Let There Be Love is how Nat King Cole’s beautiful song of the same title ends. While he first croons on while asking for there to be you, me, the wind and rain, and even someone to bless us when we sneeze, he pleads that before all that, let there be love….. and these words are so true, so simple and so true.

Poetic Sundays

Lento

Today, I bring you the Lento which is a fairly recently invented form.

So what is the Lento poem?

A Lento poem is a form created by Lencio Dominic Rodrigues consisting of two quatrains with a fixed rhyme scheme, no fixed syllabic scheme, and an interesting twist on rhyming. The name comes from the creator’s first name and Cento (an existing though unrelated form of poetry). This form lends itself to a lot of variations.

The Lento’s Characteristics

So the Lento’s elements are that at the very basic, it is:

• a pair of quatrains: a quatrain being a 4 line stanza
• rhymed: rhyme scheme of the quatrains is abcb, defe. In addition, the first words of each quatrain must rhyme for a first word rhyme scheme of AAAA, BBBB (a fun twist indeed on rhyming!) And while it is not necessary, poets can choose to also rhyme the first and third lines of each quatrain for a rhyme scheme of abab, dede.
• Note: According to Lencio in his ‘How to write a Lento‘: Words that have similar “end-sounds” will also work (for eg: Heaven/deafen) or syllables that rhyme with the word (as in hold/boldly). The latter however is applicable only in cases of first-word rhyme and not the end rhymes.
• unsyllabic: while there is no fixed syllabic scheme, having a rhythm always helps, so lines of more or less equal lengths work better.
• verse versus line: I saw both versions across the internet. In some examples, each line of the quatrain stands on its own, while others have a single verse for each quatrain.

So the Lento looks like this:

• Q1 – A…a/A…b/A…c/A…b OR A…a/A…b/A…a/A…b [Quatrain 1]
• Q2 – B…d/B…e/B…f/B….e OR B…d/B…e/B…d/B…e [Quatrain 2]

Play With the Form

• Make it a Double or a Triple Lento. While nothing is specifically mentioned about this, based on the examples I have seen, poets can choose to repeat the rhyme scheme of the first lento, or have new rhyme schemes for each new lento in the poem.
• Write a Cross Lento (use this only with poems that have more than one lento) by reversing the rhyme schemes in alternate quatrains. See below.
• Or make it a Lento Chain (having more than seven quatrains)

Cross Lento looks like this: (and of course, poets can choose to rhyme the 1st and 3rd lines as well – just remember to reverse where needed)

• Q1 – A…a/A…b/A…c/A…b [Quatrain 1]
• Q2 – d…B/e…B/f….B/e….B [Quatrain 2]
• Q3 – G…h/G…i/G…j/G…i [Quatrain 3]
• Q4 – l…K/m…K/n….K/m…K [Quatrain 4]

h/t: ShadowPoetry, AllPoetry

My Example

Today’s poet is my son…. I hope to write one for myself soon enough… And chunky in line 2 is listed as a near rhyme for crunchy in RhymeZone, so that is good for me 🙂

Burger
Crunchy lettuce layered atop
Chunky bits; onions, pickles
Punchy flavors tickling my tongue
Munchy buns – paid for with thirty nickels

I nibble, bite, then chew
Try each bite with a certain fervor
I finish, pause, then exclaim
“My! That was a good burger”
From my son for me …Vidya Tiru @ LadyInReadWrites

Recently

On My Blog

I still have many pending reviews, but decided to do them one by one, or few at a time for now.. And while I was delayed with posting, I got posts done everyday this week!!

• Sunday Scribblings #58: Where I Know I Need to Get Up
• Alphabet of Black Cultures: A Review
• Beautiful Shades of Brown: A Review
• The Sacred Vault: A Book Review
• Dream Builder: From Kid Artist to Wonderful Builder of Dreams
• 4 Fabulous Books Featuring Our Fantastic World
• Love is in the Air – Gift Ideas, Quotes, and etcs

And the Home Front

Same old, same old… except my son is finally serious about picking up cooking skills. After all, he will be heading to college in fall. We don’t know where yet, but the waiting is tough so he has decided that keeping his mind occupied with other stuff (like learning cooking) will help!!

Upcoming

On My Blog and Home Front

More reviews of course, and I am going to start those other posts I had planned as well (tips, recipes, and etcs that I love).. a little at a time.

My girl is going to be a year older this week.. 15!!! So we have something extra special to celebrate, and of course, my post’s title of Let There Be Love is definitely bound to happen with this birthday and Valentine’s Day..

This Week’s Celebrations

In addition to my darling girl’s birthday (which is on the 8th), and the very obvious Valentine’s Day, here are a few I am looking forward to.

Foodies have a lot to rejoice this week as well

• With everyone’s favorite – National Pizza Day on the 9th,
• drool-worthy National Cream Cheese Brownie Day on the 10th of February, (cream cheese and brownies in one heavenly combo!)
• Lip smacking National Peppermint Patty Day on the 11th (York Peppermint Patties are certainly one of my favorite candies!)
• Followed by warming National Tortellini Day on the 13th, and
• ending with more dessert on the 14th with National Cream-Filled Chocolates Day

And then we have the other celebrations

• with National Boy Scouts Day on the 8th of February
• World Pulses Day is Feb 10th
• International Day of Women and Girls in Science on February 11th
• No One Eats Alone Day on the 12th of February (this one changes annually),
• World Radio Day on February 13th.
• Galentine’s Day on the 13th where we can celebrate our wonderful girl friends….
• Global Movie Day on the 13th (or rather, the second Saturday in February)
• International Book Giving Day on the 14th of February

Wrapping up my Sunday Scribblings

So dear reader, this was it for my Sunday Scribblings. I would love to hear your comments on my post(s), poetic Sunday section, and anything else. And which of these days do you plan to celebrate (or any other)? Also, I do look forward to reading your poems (if you have attempted one or the other forms so far?!) 

Linking this to the Sunday Post over at the Caffeinated Reviewer and the Sunday Salon